Weeks ago, Kim Jongin met Oh Sehun. Maybe it was just about on months. Jongin liked school. It was better than being home, he had found. Even better, if he was being honest, now that Sehun was around.

Sometimes, Sehun brought up vampires. He once questioned if Jongin was family with any. Somewhere in him, Jongin was sure that Sehun had intentions beyond friendship with him. He was careful, though. He always shut off the topic of vampires. He didn't say much, so he wasn't going to slip and give anything away.

He really wanted to give it away sometimes. He wanted to give everything away.

During lunch, Sehun had already finished his inferior lunch of whatever they had in the cafeteria that day. He was telling Jongin about the date he was taking Krystal on this weekend - their second date, it would be.

Jongin listened closely. The casual dating world was such a curiosity to him that Sehun might as well have been reciting a fantasy novel.

"If she eats cheap enough, I guess I can take her shopping." Sehun said.

Jongin nodded. His sisters both liked shopping. It made sense to him.

"Her curfew is the biggest problem," Sehun said. "A curfew at sunset means she's related to vampires, or her dad's an . I'm leaning towards the second."

Jongin smiled, even though he tried not to, since vampires were mentioned. He didn't mean to invite more of that topic in.

To be honest though, Jongin wondered a lot what Sehun's connection to vampires was. He worried that they were hurting him, maybe making him befriend Kim Jongin. Maybe he was an idiot that thought he could become one. Maybe he just had a really creepy imagination, too.

Jongin would never ask. He couldn't.

He was wondering about it, though, when he put a napkin from his lunchbox out on his desk, in front of where Sehun sat, and placed a sushi roll on top of it.

Sehun didn't get the picture at first, glancing briefly at the sushi roll before looking back at Jongin and continuing to speak. "Her dad's probably right to be an , anyway. Girls don't put out before dark. If I were a dad, I'd give my daughter a curfew like that. There's no way I'll become a dad though..."

Jongin nodded as he withdrew a second pair of chopsticks from his box. He held them to Sehun, and Sehun looked at them, confused.

"Do you like sushi?" Jongin asked.

Sehun nodded.

"I made extra."

Sehun took the chopsticks and looked down at the sushi roll sitting on top of the napkin. "What? Thanks. Hey, wait... you--you make your own lunch? You made this?"

Jongin nodded before took in a mouthful of sushi for himself, which only partially hid his proud smile.

"How long have we been eating together and I didn't know that? It's like you never talk or something.." Sehun eyed Jongin as he tried the sushi. It was better than he imagined.

He immediately reached his chopsticks towards a another piece, still sitting inside of the box.

Jongin blocked with his own chopsticks and gave Sehun a puzzled look.

Sehun smiled at Jongin. "Don't be a tease. You said you made extra, not an extra."

Jongin smiled, challenging at Sehun.

What commenced next was probably the most epic chopstick fight a classroom had ever seen, and it ended with Sehun earning three extra sushi rolls - which meant one more than Jongin had actually meant for him to have, but Jongin didn't mind. The battle was worth it.

At the end of the day, Sehun hissed when they walked outside. The sun was very bright. "Got any sunglasses, Jongin?"

Jongin pat Sehun's lower back, which somehow meant 'no'.

"Okay," Sehun said, pretending to understand Jongin's way of talking through touch. He took a breath and walked ahead. He turned back, waving. "See you tomorrow!"

Jongin laughed and waved. Sehun must have forgot again that tomorrow was Saturday.

Late that night, Jongin was having a hard time holding his eyes open to study. He read the same sentence over and over, and his dog Janggah watched him with an expression of disappointment. He occasionally petted her, which was one way of saying, 'I'm trying.'

The footsteps were a short warning. He pulled his blanket up over Janggah, who was not supposed to be in bed with him. The dogs had a special room for them to sleep in.

His door opened, and his father - gray hair and soft, tired eyes, stood there. "You're not sleeping yet?"

"I was reading."

Janggah wiggled.

His father frowned deeply, walking over to the bed. He pushed the blankets aside and lifted Janggah by the scruff of her neck. "I'm disappointed."

Jongin sat up quickly, "You'll hurt her."

He cringed when his father practically threw his dog out of the room before shutting the door. He felt the blood rushing to his face. He wasn't supposed to get emotional. He was supposed to bite his tongue. But he wanted to scream.

His father turned back on him, his usually soft voice dangerously stern. "Why?"

Jongin had a hard time forming calm words.

"Jongin, I asked you a question."

"I didn't want to be alone."

"And does it matter what you want?"

No. The wants of the master come first, then the host, the vampire, the parent, the teacher, then the child. Jongin's wants didn't matter, so he'd been taught.

"Jongin.."

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again." The words hurt. That happened often with words for Jongin, who found even lies to be far too telling of emotion. They were too intimate. Using them when he didn't want to was embarrassing on a painful level.

His father rubbed his face and seemed tired. "Jongin. Who is your new friend at school?"

Sehun had nothing to do with his dog, Jongin thought.

"Your teacher told us. His name is Oh Sehun?"

Jongin nodded. "Yes sir."

"We'll look into that." His father ended quickly, like he decided he couldn't deal with this now. He opened the door and he added, "No dog for a week. If I catch you with it, it will leave this house."

When his father left the room, Jongin fell against his pillow and coughed. His throat hurt. He held his breath and gazed upwards, tricks he'd been taught from forever ago to hold back tears.

Crying when you're punished is shameful.

It didn't take him a full minute before he had himself contained. He tried not to think of Janggah. He tried to focus on his book, but he couldn't. Eventually, he imagined eating out with Sehun, and maybe going shopping afterwards.

But it was hard to think of Sehun now, too.

 'We'll look into that.'

What did that mean?